Level 42 highlights from retroglide

Retroglide was released in September 2006 and was the first Level 42 album in twelve years. Although the album featured all the supporting musicians from the current Level 42 live band (Gary Husband, Lyndon Connah, Nathan King, Sean Freeman) as well as original keyboard player Mike Lindup, it was written solely by Mark King and Boon Gould. The album was released on the W14 label, part of the Universal group and featured artwork from Alan Brooks, who had created the artwork for many of the band’s early records. The cover art also saw the reappearance of the ‘princess’, who was featured on the cover of the first Level 42 record.

Retroglide was eagerly anticipated by the group’s fanbase, who were hungry for new material from the band. The resulting album updated the classic Level 42 sound, although certain trademarks - such as King’s slap bass playing and the use of additional sequenced bass parts remained. Others, such as Lindup’s falsetto backing vocals were for the most part absent since at the point that he rejoined the band the album was almost complete. Although Retroglide was not a large scale commercial success, it quickly became popular with fans, and the new songs were well-received on the subsequent tour, which featured Mike Lindup now firmly back in the fold. The band toured in support of the album in Autumn of 2006 and released a Retroglide Live DVD the following year.

‘Dive Into The Sun’ Intro The opening track ‘Dive Into The Sun’ is classic Level 42 and is driven by a powerful riff-based groove from King. The Intro sees Mark making use of tenths, a popular melodic device for bass players. The Intro is comprised of four groupings of two chords a tone apart. For the first chord of the sequence Mark plays the root and major tenth (major third an octave higher), for the second he plays the root and the fifth of the chord. The fifth is played in the upper octave, above the tenth of the first chord. The result is descending bass notes, and ascending top notes. King outlines the chord progression very clearly in this way. This line is expanded on later in the song, but is used in shortened form for the Intro. After four bars it gives way to the powerful slap groove that forms the basis of the track. This groove is classic Level 42 - a powerful, driving line played with the thumb, and backed by a synth bass part. This line is also used for the Verse sections.

Copyright © 2018 Bassline Publishing. For educational purposes only. Not for resale. ‘Dive Into The Sun’ Chorus For the Chorus Mark reuses the classic bassline from ‘Love Games’ almost exactly. Presumably this was done to create some kind of link between the old and new versions of the band. The one bar groove is repeated seven times, with Mark just alternating the popped note between D, the flat seventh of the chord, and G the minor third. ‘Rooted’ Verse Groove ‘Rooted is one of the best songs on the Retroglide album, and was a popular song live. The line transcribed below is the main groove used for the Verse sections of the song, and in true Level 42 style, is doubled by a synth bass. This part is mostly comprised of chord tones, and features a very memorable phrase in the fourth bar which is doubled by the keyboards and guitar. ‘Sleep Talking’ Intro ‘Sleep Talking’ is another of the more popular tracks from Retroglide, thanks largely to the song featuring some great bass playing from Mark. The Intro is based around a slap motif that sounds like it was doubled. In fact, I believe Mark recorded the line through an Ashdown amplifier and used the sub-harmonic control to replicate the line an octave lower. You can replicate this effect using an octave pedal. The fill in the eighth bar is extremely tricky to pull off accurately, thanks to a multitude of ghost notes, and a final strummed double stop. Take your time with this one, and practise it slowly. It sounds as if Mark used one of his Status Kingbasses on this track.

The main groove enters in bar nine, and is used for the Verse sections of the song. The chord progression is a common Level 42 device, and was also used on ‘The Sunbed Song’ from the Forever Now album. As is typical of Mark, the line is heavy on chord tones, but features some nice touches such as the F# and A at the end of the twelfth bar. These notes are both chord tones, but by playing the F# in the low register Mark inverts the chord. Staccato notes and popped ghost notes are important to the feel of this groove, so be sure to try and play them as written. There’s a great version of this song on the Level 42 Retroglide Live DVD.

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‘Sleep Talking’ Outro This line is the fingerstyle groove from the Outro section of ‘Sleep Talking’. This is an extremely tricky fingerstyle groove in the style of Jaco Pastorius and is tough to play for as long as Mark does. The same melodic figure is used in three chord centres: E, C, D and A. Mark reportedly used his original Jaydee bass at some point on the Retroglide album, and I believe it was for this line.

Unbelievably, Mark sings a ‘rap’ section over this difficult line, and manages to pull it off perfectly live. The live version is notable since the rest of the band drops out towards the end of the track leaving Mark playing this groove while Sean Freeman continues soloing over it. This segues into ‘The Chinese Way’. ‘Retroglide’ Intro This transcription is the Intro section from the title track. This is a melodic bass part that uses chord tones and harmonics to clearly spell out the progression. Mark implies an E^7 chord in the first two bars, then C and D chords using harmonics. The B harmonic at the end of the fourth bar makes the transition back to E even smoother. In the second eight bars of the Intro Mark continues the ideas used in the first two bars legato melodic figures under each chord. It’s important to keep the bass notes ringing underneath these for as long as possible. A great live version of this song can be found on the live DVD. ‘Hell Town Story’ Middle Section This transcription is the bass solo section from the middle of ‘Hell Town Story’. Mark starts with a simple dominant figure and decorates it with bluesy upper register fills. Opens strings, hammer-ons and pull-offs are all essential to the feel here. The double stops in the final bar are a great touch.